Review: The Foul Mouth and the Fanged Lady by Richard Raley

Book Details

King Henry Price is fourteen, he loves everything he's not supposed to and hates everything he's supposed to. One day after his usual hour of detention he comes home to find an enigmatic woman named Ceinwyn Dale sitting in his kitchen, telling his parents lies about a special reform school. What she tells King Henry is different, she tells him he’s a mancer, a Geomancer to be exact, that he’s special, one in million maybe. She sure ain’t a fairy giant and King Henry sure as hell ain’t Harry Potter, but why not? Got to be better than the life he’s already got.

King Henry Price is twenty-two, a recent graduate of the Asylum as an Artificer. With the special ability to create lasting items of the Mancy, he’s spurned the Artificer’s Guild and struck out on his own to found an Artificer workshop looking to do things his way. One night, a vampire baroness claiming she’s named Anne Boleyn walks into his shop, telling King Henry he’s going to help her, and she’s not taking 'no' for an answer. King Henry is pretty sure the whole name thing is just a joke, but only pretty sure…

Review

Let me start this review off by saying I have no idea why I waited so long to read The Foul Mouth and the Fanged Lady. Now I know it was just dumb on my part because I had so much fun reading it.

Raley’s new world of mancer’s, who are people that have the ability to manipulate a certain element, is such a nice break from other paranormal and urban fantasy books I have read lately. I liked the rules Raley placed on his characters when it comes to the use of their powers. I also like that everything has a new twist, like vampires: they are not fangy, sparkly, or cloaked in black. No, vampires were all together new in The Foul Mouth and the Fanged Lady in a really cool but gross way.

What a vampire really is…is a creature of blood living inside a human body. Think of them as a hermit crab with a shell.

The Foul Mouth and the Fanged Lady is narrated through tapes by King Henry Price. Each chapter swings back and forth from his 14 year old self to King’s 22 year old self. Now I know what you are thinking… that sounds like a jumbled mess. OK, stop thinking that! The way The Foul Mouth and the Fanged Lady is written totally works. I was never lost or bored at any time, just entertained.

Now let me talk a little about my character love. Annie B., who just so happens to be a vampire is one of those characters that you're not sure if they are good or bad at first. Then by the end of the book you can’t wait until the next book because you may get to read about them again. Annie B. is awesome and that’s all there is to it. She and King Henry don’t exactly get along and their interactions made the story so much more fun. I loved King Henry. I liked going from one age of his life to the next, I felt like I learned more about him that way. King Henry at 14 was well, I kind of want to say typical for the situation he was in. He came from a family that didn’t have a lot of money, he was very smart, and he did his best to see just how far he could go with everything and everyone. I was best friends with a kid like King Henry growing up, you know with the exception of the special powers and school. So I couldn’t help but smile when I read his character. King Henry’s 22 year old self had started up a business, but it was really just a front for his Mancer inventions. I liked how the author explained the way King’s inventions worked. I also liked that we got to see what happens when an invention does not do what you think it’s going to.

King Henry Price. I either created the first vampire sex toy or what was essentially vamp-nip. I don’t know which is grosser.

Okay, I do…definitely vampire sex toy…but I was trying not to think about it…

I know I have said this but I had so much fun with this book! The Foul Mouth and the Fanged Lady has great humor and action. I recommend this to anyone who likes urban fantasy… or ever loved X-Men or story lines such as that and does not mind a Foul Mouth. I’m really looking forward to the next in this series.

2 comments:

It's super original, the way it was told. And yes, while it might seem confusing - it makes so much sense! I have to admit that seeing the cover kind of made me arch my brow, wonder if I'd enjoy it, but... Yeah. You said it. I can't wait to see the next volume, see what else King Henry's up to.